TELEVISION can be a crazy business, and nowhere is that more true than in Los Angeles. The city of angels is where most Australian actors base themselves when they first go overseas to crack into the American screen industry.

Daniel MacPherson knows that all too well. Speaking to me about his coming American cop drama APB, the City Homicide star recounted how he was required on set in Chicago just 48 hours after finding out he'd landed the role (as Chicago's district attorney).

"It was down to the final handful of guys for the lead in another Fox show and I found out on the Friday afternoon, when I was about to fly out to Australia that night, that I didn't get the role," he says.

"I was pretty bummed about that, but then I got a message an hour later saying 'Do not get on the plane' because Fox had offered me this role.

"I was in was a blind panic. I was in LA and had to fly to Chicago the next day. I'd never read a script and I started filming in less than 48 hours. I had to literally just rip into this character, learn the dialogue and just get on set and make it work."

It's not the type of upheaval most of us have to deal with in our daily working lives. MacPherson also has to contend with the schedule of his wife, actress Zoe Ventoura. The couple tied the knot on the Sunshine Coast, where MacPherson has a holiday home, in November 2015.

"Zoe woke up to an email one day saying she was on a very, very short list for a job in Hawaii and we thought we were going. That afternoon it didn't eventuate and by dinner time it was like 'We're not moving to Hawaii'," he says.

"I'm lucky to have a partner who understands firsthand the ups and downs of the business. I'm sure that's why our relationship has been successful for this long."

The former Dancing With The Stars host is riding a good wave at the moment. Last year he starred in the hit sci-fi series The Shannara Chronicles, APB debuts next month on Foxtel and in just over a month he'll be in Europe to work on his first leading US TV role.

MacPherson will star in the action series Strike Back, which has been on hiatus and previously starred another Aussie, Sullivan Stapleton.

"It follows ex-military black ops specialists saving the world. What more could a guy want?"